That is true. But the spent casing located in the passenger side floorboard is evidence that, at some point, a round was fired from within the vehicle or just outside the driver's side of the vehicle (semi-auto pistols eject upwards and toward the right). Because a handgun holster/case was found along Lake Marvin Road, I must conclude that there is a logical reason that somebody discarded the case/holster; and that reason is because the weapon is connected to events that occurred that night.
You are correct; a lot of unanswered questions!
Warning: long post
I’ve been following TB’s case for a couple of years now. I think there are some very intelligent posters on this WS thread who are very determined to figure out what happened to Tom that night. It is definitely a confounding mystery. Hopefully there will be some resolution (and sooner rather than later). No matter what happened, Tom’s death was a tragedy. His family is still dealing with losing him. A young man with his whole life ahead of him.
Since I first learned of the case I have gone from thinking that LE was involved, to thinking that one of Tom’s friends (or a friend’s parent) was involved, to thinking that perhaps Tom committed suicide - and then going full circle. I’m not sure where I am on that circle right now, but I no longer consider foul play to be the only explanation.
I always thought that the .25 cal shell/casing was important in trying to solve the mystery. First of all, nobody could explain its presence in Tom’s SUV. He didn’t own a .25 acp, he was not a hunter/shooter type, and no weapon was found with his remains. At one point I was trying to figure out who in Canadian might’ve owned (or had access to) a .25 acp (incl Tom’s friends, his friend’s parents, his relatives, FFL dealers, you name it). Imo the answer to that question might still help solve the case.
In response to OutWest’s excellent post (above) about the casing, I thought I’d offer one possible explanation that I thought about last year (it’s been in the “notes” app on my phone - along with about five other tentative posts that I’m sure at the time I wrote them I thought would solve the case!). This explanation about the casing though might also help explain the smudges of blood found inside Tom’s SUV. It more supports a suicide scenario than a foul play scenario - but again, right now I’m not in either camp.
IF Tom was considering suicide, and IF he had somehow recently managed to obtain a .25 acp, he might have test-fired the weapon just outside his SUV - maybe even that night (maybe sometime between when his phone was turned off and when the SUV was found). As OutWest mentioned, one possible way that a casing could have ended up inside the car would’ve been if somebody had fired a semi automatic handgun (aiming ahead of the vehicle) while standing next to the driver’s side door (with window open). The casing would have ejected up and to the right and into the car.
This would also fit with the reported lack of any evidence suggesting that a gun had recently been fired inside (or from the inside of) the vehicle.
When firing a semi automatic handgun, an inexperienced operator (and even some experienced operators) can suffer an injury that is sometimes called “slide bite”. It is a hand injury that is caused by the slide ratcheting back rapidly (and with great force) when the gun is fired. Among other things, this action serves to expel the just-fired casing and load the next cartridge.
If your shooting hand and/or your supporting hand are improperly positioned, you can get nicked pretty bad by this slide-ratcheting action. It has happened to me. Common locations for the injury are 1.) on the webbing of your shooting hand - in between the thumb and the forefinger (this occurs if you are gripping too high, above the beaver tail), and 2.) on the knuckle of your left thumb (this occurs when operators incorrectly “cross their thumbs” in the back of the grip, positioning their left thumb too high. This will put the left thumb knuckle directly in the path of the ratcheting slide.
Although the “crossing thumbs” grip can initially feel comfortable, an operator will quickly learn if their left thumb knuckle is in the wrong place! (in case you’re wondering, the proper position of the left thumb is along the left side of the gun’s frame - pointing in the direction of the target).
If a .25 acp was test fired by somebody who was standing just outside the driver’s side door (with the window open), and if that person suffered a “slide bite” wound and then got back into the vehicle, it might explain not only the presence of a casing inside the vehicle, but the smudges of blood found near and on the inside handle of the driver’s side door.
Obviously, this is just one possible explanation for the casing found on the floorboard of the SUV and the smudges of blood found on the inside door handle. It doesn’t mean that somebody else at some time didn’t fire a .25 acp while standing just outside Tom’s SUV (with a window down) - or that the blood smudges and/or gun firing (if done by Tom, with him possibly suffering a “slide bite” injury) couldn’t have been done on a completely different day (again, if that is even something that ever happened). But I think it’s something worth considering.
I can’t remember if LE (or the PI or the TAG office) made any statement about how long they thought the blood might have been there, but I’m pretty sure they determined that it was Tom’s blood,
I guess like everything else in this case, there are a lot of possible explanations.
All jmo
